OTTAWA — Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is asserting that former cabinet colleague John McCallum, who was sacked as Canada’s ambassador to China in January, does not speak for the government after his comments this week implying the Chinese government should help the Liberal Party get re-elected this fall.

“I think that it is highly inappropriate for any Canadian to be offering advice or opinions to any foreign government on how that government ought or ought not to behave to secure any particular election outcome in Canada,” Freeland said during a call with journalists from the United Kingdom Thursday afternoon. “Nor should any Canadian be advising a foreign government on which electoral outcome would be best for that government. Canada’s election is about Canadians, full stop.”

Her comments come after McCallum mused to the South China Morning Post earlier this week that he thought “anything that is more negative against Canada,” meaning actions by the Chinese government, “will help the Conservatives, (who) are much less friendly to China than the Liberals.”

That prompted Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer to wonder, in an interview with the National Post Wednesday evening, whether other Liberals were telling Chinese officials more privately that “it’s in China’s best interests to re-elect (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau.”

But Freeland reiterated what she had said earlier Thursday, on the margins of a world press freedom summit co-hosted by Canada and the U.K. in London. “Mr. McCallum does not speak for the government of Canada. In January, the prime minister asked for Mr. McCallum’s resignation and Mr. McCallum subsequently resigned.”

She added that her Liberal government has taken “unprecedented steps” to help prevent foreign interference in the upcoming election. “In doing that, by the way, I think we have the support of all Canadians and all political parties. I do not see the protection of the sanctity of our democracy as a partisan issue, and it shouldn’t be.”

The current freeze in Canada-China relations began last December when Canadian authorities arrested the chief financial officer of Huawei, a massive China-based telecommunications company, for possible extradition to the United States. Retaliatory measures from China, including the arrest of two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, swiftly followed. They remain detained, now on espionage charges, while Meng is out on bail following an appeals process in Vancouver.

Since the arrests, tensions have only escalated. China has used bilateral trade to harm Canada by denying the importation of Canadian canola and meat products. More broadly, Canada’s abiding by the Canada-U.S. extradition treaty, and its generally close relationship to the U.S. puts it in an awkward position as a cold war brews between the world’s two biggest economies.

McCallum fell out of favour in January — two years after his resignation from Trudeau’s cabinet and appointment as ambassador to China — after going off-message with public comments to the effect that Meng would have a good case for appeal, and that it would be “good for Canada” if the U.S. withdrew the extradition request.

The senior Liberal’s propensity for being loose-lipped has more than once caused observers to question why he would be appointed to navigate one of Canada’s most sensitive foreign relationships. Since his resignation, Trudeau has not named a replacement.